What Does My Tuition Cover?
Most of the time when we think about the tuition for piano lessons, we account for the time taken to give the lessons, maybe a little of the teacher's education or experience, and probably not too much else. So I just wanted to let you know where your tuition really goes, beyond the teacher's take home pay & benefits:
- Time in lessons - this is the obvious one. Keep reading to see what tuition covers beyond teacher compensation for time in lessons.
- Lesson Prep - for every hour in lessons, I spend time doing prep work. Professional music journals have stated that for each hour of lesson time, you actually get 2 hours of the teacher's time.
- Recital Cost - Venue rental, refreshments, program printing etc. Many piano studios charge a "Recital Fee" but I am not really a fan of a pay-to-play policy, so I've rolled this expense into my studio cost.
- Festival Fees - During the school year, students are encouraged to participate in the Christmas Festival in December and in Music Progressions in the Spring. Student participation ranges from $10-$20 per student at these events. This studio pays these fees from your tuition, so there's no extra cost to you to participate.
- Business License, Insurance & Taxes - I run my studio as a business, so just like every other business, the studio pays taxes, liability insurance, etc.
- Continuing Education - I am committed to bringing the best quality music education that I can. This means I am always learning too. I attend webinars, conferences, read professional publications, and pay membership into professional groups with other music educators where I can continue to get great teaching ideas & inspiration that translates to quality lessons for you.
- Studio Expenses - This is the catch-all category that includes the pianos, tuning, iPads & other tech, printer, paper, ink, the music education apps & software we love to supplement lessons with, the equipment & software for online lessons, utilities, prizes or incentives, and all that good stuff that helps make your experience with my studio more engaging.
- Lesson Materials - The studio fee includes all lesson books & sheet music that you get to keep, so you pay one flat fee every month for lessons with no itemized additions. Those super-cool supplemental pieces that I run copies of during lessons? The studio buys the printing rights to that sheet music. The advantage of this is that, when available, I am able to buy "Studio Licensed" music, which does cost more up front than single-user music, but I can print them over & over again without violating copyright law, making it a much better deal in the long run. And those savings get passed right on to you, keeping your tuition lower with zero itemized additions for new books or music.
- Studio Subscriptions - The Piano Game Club & Piano Book Club are amazing monthly subscriptions I buy that send studio licensed music theory games & music books out every month. The studio also has a studio license for the Piano Maestro app, which means you can connect to the studio account from your home iPad and get all the premium content without carrying a personal subscription to the app. I am committed to giving my students a truly well-rounded music education, and these resources are excellent for that.
- Piano Parties - 5 times a year the studio hosts a Piano Party with a specific musical theme or topic. All students are invited to attend at no extra cost!
- Young Composers Program - For several years, I offered a Young Composers Program for students at an additional one-time fee to cover the music notation software and audio track upload & streaming for this summer program. But as of 2018 the regular summer tuition includes this program so that ALL students will get the opportunity to compose a piece from concept to publishing & recording at no extra cost.